princeton – A silvery bell that’s rung when cancer patients complete a successful course of treatment is ready to chime again in a new infusion center opening this coming Monday at WVU Medicine Princeton Community Hospital. The Bluefield Daily Telegraph and other media were given a tour Thursday of the new infusion center by hospital CEO Karen Bowling and Cancer Center Director Khristy Shrewsbury. The new space, which will serve patients from southern West Virginia and Southwest Virginia, opens for patients on Monday, Aug.
26. Bowling said the new infusion center is Phase II of the hospital’s overall plan to provide cancer treatment for patients across southern West Virginia and Southwest Virginia. Phase I was the consolidation of the hospital’s cancer offices located near the hospital’s Parkview entrance.
Along with the new infusion center, the consolidated cancer offices and Phase III, a future cancer center to be built adjacent to the hospital, there are other services designed to make cancer treatment more convenient. “The other thing that’s really important for our patients to know is that we have valet parking,” Bowling said. “The valet parking is on the north side of our Parkview entrance, so when our patients need to go either to our cancer center offices or they need to come here to the infusion center, the easiest way for them to get there is to use the valet parking.
If they need help, somebody from the volunteer desk will wheel them directly back to the second floor. We want to make sure our patients are well aware Monday morning (the infusion center) starts, but please use the valet parking because we do want none of our patients to be inconvenienced. It’s important to us.
” Oncology, which is the branch of medicine specializing in diagnosing and treating cancer, is an important service line in the community, Bowling said. “We all know why,” she said. “We have a significant number of people with cancer in our geographic area, so serving this population in an environment we think is a beautiful environment where there’s great ambiance is important.
” Besides giving patients a new space for their infusions, they will also see photographs of local sights. Local photographers such as Leiane Gibson answered a call for pictures to decorate the new infusion center, Bowling said. “Our commitment is to be supportive of the local community and artists in the community are a very important part of that,” she said.
Khristy Shrewsbury, the cancer center’s director, said the hospital started out with two infusion chairs in the back of its day surgery department. In contrast, the new infusion center has 27 infusion chairs. “To have this as a Phase II part of our cancer center is very important to the community and for the staff,” Shrewsbury said.
A patient nourishment area is part of the infusion center. “We’re one of the only centers that do offer nutrition to our patients while they’re here because our cancer patients eat,” Shrewsbury said. “They don’t like a lot of different things.
Their diets are very strict and we do offer meals to them while they’re here in the center to make sure they do get that nutrition while they’re here.” While the new infusion center will offer chemotherapy, it will also provide infusion treatments for patients with other conditions. “We not only give the chemotherapy,” Shrewsbury said.
“We give all blood products here even if it’s not cancer patients. We give the new Lquembi, which is an Alzheimer’s medication. We give all the medications for multiple sclerosis and Crohon’s Disease.
These nurses are highly trained in different medications. They’re oncology nurse certified so they can give chemotherapy, but with any new drug that WVU starts giving there, we can offer here. The nurses go through the education.
They’re very highly trained, but it is not just chemotherapy.” The infusion center will be able to participate in clinical trials as well. “One, we do do clinical trials here, a specialist that’s dedicated to help us work through clinical trials,” Bowling said.
“And our connection to WVU Medicine and our cancer institute really helps us be able to coordinate those trials. Also where we have a very strong radiation oncology program as well, so there is a lot that will be happening here that you will be seeing over the next few years where we’re going to be able to expand some treatment options for our patients, be able not to have to travel all the way up to Morgantown and be able to get those treatments here. “I think the second thing to note about it is that we’ve done everything we can think of to make this as comfortable as possible as we can for our patients,” Bowling said.
“This is a patient-friendly, patient-centered environment and I think you’re going to see that.” Contact Greg Jordan at [email protected].
